GFS BioProtect Hand Sanitizer Testing


GFS BioProtect

GFS BioProtect  is one of the few hand sanitizers that has actually been tested and shown to kill a norovirus surrogate. It killed 99% of murine norovirus. You all know that I love my Zylast antiseptic but in the winter my hands are cracked and bleeding, I often simply don't use my hand sanitizer at all because it hurts too bad. I was excited about testing this non-stinging option. The BioProtect also smells really good. 

In this experiment, I compared BioProtect to Zylast, 3% hydrogen peroxide, and Purell Advanced on my countertop. I did the experiment like I always do. 

I made germ water with dirt from the back yard and extra bacteria from a previous days agar plate. 

I put 1mL of germ water onto each square.

I rubbed the germ water around with my gloved hand and let it completely dry which took about 2 hours. 


I used a sterile swab to rub on the dirty control square. 

I rubbed each swab onto its respective agar plate. 

Then I added .5 mL of each product (Zylast, hydrogen peroxide, and Purell Advanced) to its respective square and rubbed it in with my clean gloved hand. I let it sit for 1 minute and then swabbed each square and rubbed the swabs onto agar plates. Since the BioProtect is a foam, I could not accurately measure it. Instead, I used 4 pumps of the BioProtect and rubbed that around the square. 

The plates were incubated overnight it my warm incubator. 

As you can see, the BioProtect did a great job killing bacteria on the countertop just like Zylast and 3% hydrogen peroxide. As usual, Purell Advanced does not do a very good job. 

How well does BioProtect work on actual kid's hands? 

For these experiments, I had my kids and some neighbor kids go out and play and get their hands dirty. All hands had a lot of actual dirt on them. 

Then they rubbed one dirty hand onto an agar plate. 

I put 4 pumps of BioProtect on the other hand, rubbed it in, and let it dry for 1 minute. Then the child rubbed their sanitized hand onto another agar plate. 

The plates were incubated overnight in my warm incubator. As you can see, the BioProtect did a great job killing bacteria even on these filthy hands. 



As you can see, BioProtect does a great job killing bacteria in my experiments. BioProtect is also one of the few hand sanitizers that has been shown to kill a norovirus surrogate. But it is the ONLY one that I have found that is effective against norovirus and does not contain alcohol. Yes, Zylast antiseptic has been my favorite for a few years now. However, this winter my hands have been cracked and bleeding, and I simply can't use my Zylast, and I will be carrying BioProtect with me. You can order GFS BioProtect (now called My-Shield) on Amazon

BioProtect Extended Kill

BioProtect also advertises that it "continues to work" for a few hours after being applied. To test this, I put 4 pumps of the BioProtect hand sanitizer on ONE of my children's clean hands and rubbed it in. They let their hand dry before touching anything. The other hand had no hand sanitizer. Then my son went off to his martial arts class and my daughter went off to ballet. When they got home (1 hour to 1.5 hours later), they rubbed the fingers of both hands onto agar plates. The plates were incubated for 48 hours. 



In a few of the experiments, it looks like the GFS BioProtect  hand did have less bacteria on it than the control hand. However, in a few of the experiments, the hands looked about the same. I have never been able to show that Zylast or Qore24 continues to work, either. In fact, the BioProtect at least had a few experiments where it looked like it continued to do a little something. I am not saying that the hand sanitizers don't work like they claim. All I know for sure is that your hands aren't as germ-free an hour later as they were right after you put on the hand sanitizer and that goes for all of the extended kill hand sanitizers that I have tested. I would just reapply or wash hands before eating if you can.